Organizational Behaviour (BE410) 2020-21

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Organizational Behaviour (BE410) 2020-21
COURSEWORK BRIEF
Module Description
This module builds on the first year module BE400 to develop and deepen several of the
themes introduced there. The intention is to dig deeper into the concepts of management,
work and organization in order to develop understanding of the interplay of management
practices and experiences of organizational life. The focus is on understanding the social,
historical, economic, and cultural context within which things and people are organized. The
module considers a number of broad and overlapping topics in the field of organizational
behaviour and explores these with reference to both their historical origins and their
contemporary relevance.
The focus is on the social and cultural dynamics and power relations that shape the
management and experience of organizational life. ‘Organization’ here has three meanings:
(i) organization as an entity, a thing (an organization); (ii) organization as an activity, a
practice (organizing) and (iii) organization as an idea, even an ideal. All three meanings
have a direct impact on how we organize and manage in our daily lives and work, and form
the basis of our thinking about organizational behaviour.
Whilst a clear description of organizational realities is important, to really understand
management, work and organization, it is necessary to move beyond description, first to
analyse and then to critically evaluate. Analysis means moving beyond description to
understand the social contexts, processes and dynamics that give rise to particular
organizational structures, relations and patterns of behaviour. The teaching, learning and
assessment on this module is designed to support you moving from a descriptive to an
analytical, and critically evaluative understanding of OB as you work through the teaching
materials, readings and the two coursework assignments.
All students who successfully complete this module should be able to make and articulate
an informed judgement on specific management and organizational practices, evaluating
them in terms of their contexts and effects. This is an essential skill set for all managers,
who are often in a privileged and influential position when it comes to making changes to
the way we organize. It is also an important basis for final year study and beyond.
Module Aims
The aims of the module are:
1) To provide an appropriate level of conceptual and theoretical understanding of
organizational behaviour.
2) To develop an informed understanding of the ways in which broader social contexts
and changes affect organizational behaviour and management practice.
3) To develop students’ abilities to engage in critical analysis, evaluation and
argumentation through reading, participation and assessment.
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Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of the module, students should be able to:
1) Demonstrate a social scientifically informed understanding of organizational
behaviour, drawing on relevant theories, concepts and examples of organizational
settings (CWI and CWII).
2) Apply social scientific concepts and ideas to explain and evaluate changing contexts
shaping the management and experience of work organizations (CWII).
3) Develop and deploy skills in critical analysis, evaluation and argumentation through
reading, participation and assessment (CWI and CWII).
Assessment
The module is assessed by two pieces of coursework, as follows:
Assignment (1) – Short answer questions (20%)
For the first assignment, students should write a response to the following two short
answer questions.
Answers must be written in full prose (not note-style) and should be 1,500 words in total
(750 words per question) excluding references (+/- up to 100 words will not be penalized).
All parts of the question must be answered using ONE article as source material for each
question (e.g. one article for Question 1, and one article for Question 2).
PDFs of all papers are provided on Moodle.
The aim is to provide student choice, while at the same time making sure that core
knowledge is developed and demonstrated, in order to meet the Learning Outcomes outlined
above.
1. Organizing identity
Choose and read ONE of the following:
• Huber and Brown’s (2016) study of the New York food co-operative, or
• Van Amsterdam and van Eck’s (2019) paper on the experiences of female
employees who self-identify as fat.
Summarize how identity is defined in the article you have chosen and describe
TWO examples of activities or behaviours that demonstrate identity work
discussed in the article. Explain why these activities or behaviours can be
understood as examples of identity work according to the definition you have
provided.
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2. Power relations and inequalities at work
Choose and read ONE of the following:
• Dobusch and Kreissl’s (2020) paper on im/mobility governance during COVID19 lockdown, or
• Opie and Robert’s (2017) paper on racism in business organizations.
Drawing on your chosen paper, identify TWO examples of how the exercise of
power influences organizational behaviour and explain how this exercising of power
impacts on inequality.
Assignment (2) – Essay (80%)
Choose ONE question from the following two:
1. Critically evaluate the argument that the management of culture and space
determines organizational behaviour.
2. How relevant is the concept of ‘structured antagonism’ to understanding
organizational behaviour in today’s digital age.
Essays should be 3,000 words in length (+/- up to 10% will not be penalized), excluding
references.
Both assignments must be word-processed and written in an appropriate academic style.
All coursework will be processed using plagiarism detection software.
Both assignments must include a list of ‘References’ cited in the piece of work – NOT a
Bibliography. References must include a full list of all articles, books and other sources that
have been cited in the assignment. This must be written in Harvard style. In the main body
of the assignment, page numbers must be included for ALL direct quotations, using Harvard
style (e.g. Opie & Roberts, 2017: 116).
All answers should make reference to a range of well-chosen organizational examples and
to relevant concepts and theoretical ideas in order to make connections between the
changing contexts and forms of organizational behaviour.
All answers should aim to:
• Be well structured, with a clear introduction and conclusion.
• Make good use of relevant academic source material.
• Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of key conceptual and theoretical ideas.
• Engage with relevant academic debates and different perspectives.
• Be referenced clearly, accurately and consistently, using Harvard style referencing.
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• Be original work, and achieve a mark below the expected threshold when checked.
• Include a range of well-chosen examples to illustrate key points.
• NOT cite websites (apart from academic journal articles or news items accessed
online, or organizational websites as illustrative examples).
Assignments should be submitted electronically to FASER by 10.00am on the given
deadline date.
For details on electronic submission, see: http://faser.essex.ac.uk/
Academic Offences Procedure
For details of the University’s Academic Offences Procedure, see:
www.essex.ac.uk/see/academic-offence
Please note: it is a student’s own responsibility to be aware of the University’s Academic
Offences Procedure, the regulations governing examinations, and how to correctly reference
and cite the work of others.
Indicative answers and application of the marking scheme
With the intended Learning Outcomes in mind, both assignments will be graded as follows:
• Excellent answers (70s+) will demonstrate an extremely well informed
understanding of organizational behaviour, drawing on carefully chosen theories
and concepts, applying these to a well thought through and insightful analysis
deploying well-developed skills in academic research, critical evaluation, and
argumentation. Strongest answers will demonstrate a capacity to synthesize ideas
from different sources and will demonstrate evidence of originality in the analysis
and argument presented.
• Very good answers (60s) will demonstrate a considered understanding of
organizational behaviour, drawing on relevant theories and concepts and applying
these to a convincing analysis of appropriate examples, demonstrating skills in
research, critical evaluation and argumentation. These answers will be analytical
but will lack the originality or level of insight of the strongest answers.
• Good answers (50s) will apply relevant concepts and theoretical ideas to develop a
good understanding of key issues and examples, deploying skills in research,
evaluation and argumentation. These answers will tend to be more descriptive than
analytical, however.
• Satisfactory answers (40s) will demonstrate a relatively basic understanding of
key issues and ideas, relying largely on taught material and readings provided on
Moodle, thereby deploying only limited skills in research, evaluation and
argumentation.
• Weakest answers (below 40) will demonstrate only a minimal understanding of
relevant concepts, theories, issues and source material, and will fail to deploy skills
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in research, evaluation and argumentation at the required level. Assessments in this
category will tend to engage insufficiently with relevant academic source material,
with not reference sources cited accurately and thoroughly, and/or will lack a
sustained focus on the set question.
Reassessment
In accordance with the School’s Reassessment Strategy 2019-2020, reassessment will be
by coursework only (100%). Students who have not achieved an overall pass mark for the
module (40%) will be required to submit an essay 3,000 words in length (+/- up to 10% will
not be penalized), excluding references, in response to the following brief:
The global pandemic of 2020 has created a need for a rapid re-organization of work and
has meant that some workers are busier than ever while others have little to do.
Explain how theories and concepts covered on the module provide insight into these
differences.
In your answer ensure that you make reference to a range of relevant examples and
academic literature.
For indicative answers to reassessment, please see above.

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